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Andrea Mackris, a former producer for The O'Reilly Factor, sued Bill O'Reilly for sexual harassment on October 13, 2004, seeking $60 million in damages in response to a lawsuit O'Reilly filed previously that day charging Mackris of extortion, alleging that she had threatened a lawsuit unless he paid her more than $60 million.

The lawsuits

On October 13, 2004, Bill O'Reilly sued Andrea May Mackris for extortion after claiming that Mackris had threatened to charge him for sexual harassment unless he paid her more than $60 million (USD). Hours later, Mackris countersued for sexual harassment against O'Reilly and Fox News in the New York Supreme Court (in New York the Supreme Court is a trial court) for 60 million dollars in damages, the value of O'Reilly's name brand to the corporation per year, according to public sources at the time. The entire public proceeding lasted 16 days before it ended in a settlement for Mackris.

The allegations

In her allegations against Bill O'Reilly, Mackris claimed two types of legally cognizable sexual harassment claims that are not based upon physical contact: quid pro quo and hostile work environment. She produced quotations from phone conversations between herself and O’Reilly in which he suggested various sexual fantasies he had for her. A widely publicized portion of one conversation included a scenario where O'Reilly would massage her with a loofah in the shower. At one point during the conversation, O'Reilly referred to the loofah as "the falafel thing." "Falafel" eventually became a short-hand reference to the affair.

The complaint alleged a number of other sexual conversations and encounters from O'Reilly toward Mackris, as well as O'Reilly stating that radio talk show host Al Franken would "get what was coming to him," and that any woman who crossed him or Fox would be destroyed.

The response

On October 15, 2004, Fox sought judicial permission to fire Mackris, and sought to convince the court that seeking the firing was not illegal retribution for the sexual harassment lawsuit. Mackris was never fired. On October 19, 2004, Mackris filed an amended complaint, adding further details to her complaints of a sexual harassment atmosphere in the workplace, noting that O'Reilly had not denied her claims of sexual harassment, and seeking further damages for illegal retaliatory actions by O'Reilly, Fox News, and the News Corporation-owned newspaper, The New York Post.

On October 21, 2004, both sides agreed to a one-week postponement of legal proceedings, leading to speculation that settlement negotiations would resume. Press reports had said there had been prior discussions of a potential settlement of about US$2 million, but no formal offer had been made.

The settlement

On October 28, 2004, O'Reilly and Mackris reached an out-of-court settlement and dropped all charges against each other. According to several published reports, as part of the settlement, O'Reilly paid Mackris millions of dollars, but the terms of the agreement are confidential.

References

1. O'Reilly Hit With Sex Harass Suit - October 13, 2004
2. O'Reilly Hit With Sex Harass Suit - October 13, 2004
3. O'Reilly Hit With Sex Harass Suit - October 13, 2004
4. "O'Reilly Hit With Sex Harass Suit - October 13, 2004". Thesmokinggun.com. 2004-10-13. Retrieved 2010-01-18.
5. Howard Kurtz (2004-10-29). "Bill O'Reilly, Producer Settle Harassment Suit". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-05-28.

External links

• The Smoking Gun: O'Reilly: Female Aide In $60M Extort Bid
• The Smoking Gun: O'Reilly Hit With Sex Harass Suit
• Mackris vs O'Reilly: A Man. A Woman. A Lawsuit., a Baroque oratorio based on the incident

• Articles to be merged from December 2010
• Sex scandals